Best Way to Improve Your Sleep to Combat Stress

Time was when it was totally uncool to admit to more than five or six hours’ sleep a night. Burning the candle at both ends – late nights in clubs, early morning breakfast meetings – was the hallmark of the seriously successful. Long nights of uninterrupted, restorative sleep are now acknowledged as a sign of the truly dynamic and creative, one of the surest ways to get to, and stay at, the top.

There is much you can do to ensure a good night’s kip, but first, how much sleep do you need to function at optimum levels? Although needs vary from one individual to another, it is best to aim for eight hours of sound sleep a night. If you find yourself regularly waking naturally, and feeling refreshed, after less sleep than that, then your sleep requirement is less. If your sleep is interrupted or you are unwell, or you still feel tired after eight hours’ quality sleep, you may need more. Beware, though, of trying to make up for a week’s lost sleep at the weekend. For a start, a sleep debt of say an hour or two a day is difficult to pay off with one or two lie-ins unless you fancy spending virtually the entire weekend in bed. And if you do, you throw your body clock out of sync with its workaday needs. On top of that, on the days you sleep in you are likely to feel groggy and lethargic, have a headache, and to need at least three cups of strong coffee to get you going. Getting into a regular sleep routine – going to bed and waking up at regular times, with enough sleep in between – is the best way to relax and feel good.

If you have difficulty in getting to sleep (taking more than twenty minutes), or you find yourself waking in the night with problems turning over in your mind, use meditative and other techniques to switch off after work, and make time to wind down before you go to bed.

Ten ways to a better night’s sleep

•  Create a restful environment in your bedroom. Make it a work-free, television-free zone and clear the clutter. Keep it as quiet and dark as possible, and neither too hot nor too cold: 16-18°Cis ideal.
•  Unless you are ill or exhausted, avoid afternoon naps.
•  Ensure you have a comfortable, supportive mattress, and good head support. Too many pillows, or pillows that are too thin, strain the neck and cause headaches. Your head has the right support when the spinal section in the upper back is level with that of your neck.
•  Relax and unwind before going to bed with a book, music, meditation. Prepare your body for sleep by developing them into a bedtime ritual, just as parents for their children, doing the same things each night before bed.
•  Base your evening meal on carbohydrate-rich foods such as baked potatoes, pasta and other cereals, and avoid heavy meals close to bedtime. Aim to eat your last meal of the day at least two hours before you go to bed.
•  Caffeine is a stimulant that can keep you awake at night. Avoid tea, coffee, cola and even hot chocolate after 6p.m., earlier if you are especially sensitive to caffeine. Take milky drinks and herbal infusions instead.
•  Avoid alcoholic nightcaps. Although alcohol can make you drowsy it interferes with sleep patterns, making you wake in the night, and causes dehydration and headaches.
•  Take regular exercise, but not too close to bedtime.
•  Try alternative remedies such as herbal medicine or aromatherapy. The herb valerian is commonly used to relieve stress and insomnia; or try sprinkling a few drops of an essential oil such as lavender in your bath or on to your pillow.
•  If you wake in the night and cannot get back to sleep, get up and do something relaxing such as reading. If worries and problems are keeping you awake, offload them by writing them down or making lists of things to deal with the following day. Go back to bed when you feel sleepy.